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003 (GOD'S WAR, 2012 Manga)
Note: This profile refers to the "GOD'S WAR" manga and light novel adaptations by Joe Onodera, and may contain information that does not apply to the original notes for the storyline or to what is seen in the OVA incarnation. "Françoise Arnoul" (フランソワーズ·アルヌール Furansowazu Arunuru), also known as 003, was a ballerina captured by Black Ghost for their Cyborg Astronaut Project (C.A.P.). As a 00 prototype, she was given enhanced sight and hearing. Although her true name is said to be much different, it is not revealed in-story and she has gone by using her fictional counterpart's name. Appearance As with her classic incarnation, Françoise is a young woman of average height and a slim build, with shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She wears a red headband. In this setting, her 00 Cyborg uniform is a deep blue (identified as "samurai blue" in the settings) and the scarf is red, but it retains the gold buttons and other identifying features of the classic look. After her original eyes were gouged out, her temporary new eyes had pale grey sclerae and deep gray irises with an aperture appearance. Her right arm was also replaced with a gunmetal gray, visibly mechanical arm with a hand that could fire bullets. Personality Françoise is gentle and pacifistic, with no desire to return to the fighting that she hated, and only wishes to lead a peaceful life without war and destruction. Though she holds strong feelings for her teammate Joe, this is complicated during her time apart from the team early on in the story, as she wishes to cut off contact with the other cyborgs in an attempt to be a normal girl and free of the burden. She has secretly become rather bitter about her cybernetic state in a manner similar to her teammate Albert, considering herself unnatural and a monster due to the mechanical enhancements to her senses and her age essentially being frozen in time. In her introductory chapter, she mentions that it was difficult to keep herself from "regressing" back to her old ways as a 00-Cyborg and a fighter. These feelings increase after she's remodeled by Dr. Gilmore in the wake of the Tokyo disaster, with her upset and inconsolable over the obvious metal arm and eyes. While she vocally expresses her fear of dying and her upset at her upgrades, she is quickly reminded that as a 00-Cyborg, she must be willing to cooperate and fight together with the others to ensure that they can succeed. After she unlocks telepathic abilities, she acts as the team's field leader from afar, directing the other cyborgs on what to do during battle. Abilities Initially, Francoise's upgrades by Black Ghost only included her 50km range of sight and her enhanced hearing. After being mutilated by oni in the disasters that plagued Tokyo, Dr. Gilmore upgraded her with a bullet-firing arm and gave her the enhanced robotic eyes. Françoise eventually tore out the eyes herself, rejecting them, and opted to remain blind. In the second power-up by Ivan, she gained the ability to telepathically "see" images in her mind as a replacement for her lost eyes, along with being able to "see" images from a great distance. She also gained the ability to communicate to the others via telepathy. History Little is known about her history prior to becoming a cyborg, except for her being a ballerina. After her remodeling and subsequent rebellion against the Black Ghost organization, she and the rest of the 00 Cyborg Team fought against them until 2009, when they appeared to be defeated. Following the end of the fights against Black Ghost, Françoise went back to Paris to attend university, as well as continue her ballet career. While she retained feelings for Joe, she did not wish to keep contact with anyone else, as she wanted to go back to her original life even if her abilities made it difficult. While studying at university, she grew close to a young man named Alain Deneuve, who was working on his doctorate for archaeology. Unfortunately, she was pulled back into battle by way of Alain and his friend Canet having seemingly been murdered and spontaneously resurrected, revealing themselves to be angels that intended to reset humanity. In a fight against the two, a second, purified Alain appeared to protect Françoise against the corrupted one. At the end of the conflict, both Alains vanished, leaving Françoise in confusion. After the rest of the team experienced different encounters with gods in their home countries, they reunited in Tokyo, as Ivan predicted there would be a disaster. Françoise then learned that an author named Shotaro Ishinomori had written about fictionalized versions of the 00 cyborgs due to Ivan's telepathic suggestions, and that he had attempted to write a final storyline predicting their final battle and the apocalypse, but passed away before he could finish it. She became upset at the news, realizing that they had no way of knowing they would survive what would happen next. The Tokyo disaster turned out not to be simply natural forces, but the work of various demonic creatures, who proceeded to murder and menace the civilians. During a battle agaisnt oni, Françoise was overwhelmed and had her eyes gouged out, along with having her right arm torn off at the shoulder. Had it not been for Ivan's quick intervention in driving out the demons and teleporting her and the others away, she may have died. Françoise was distraught at the new physical upgrades that were given to her by Dr. Gilmore and was adamant about not wanting to fight, believing that she and the others would only die anyway. The inconspicuous nature of her upgrades meant that she could no longer easily blend into public, and she would no longer be able to perform ballet as she had wanted to. In the fight against the giant Moai in Shinjuku, Françoise was captured by it and used as bait to taunt Joe, but he managed to rescue her. At the end of the battle, the team disbanded and attempted to go back to their normal lives, believing that they had finished their fight against the gods. But six months later, Françoise had grown suicidal and in despair of her altered body and snapped, due to having the darkness in her heart and mind brought out by a mental attack by the gods. She stabbed out her robotic eyes, and then attempted to shoot herself in the head, but was snapped out of her despair by Ivan, and teleported away to a hospital. After these events, she gained the ability of seeing her surroundings in her mind, and being able to use her "mind's eye" to see what was going on in places far across the world. She did not participate in the final battle, and stayed behind with Ivan, choosing to direct her teammates from afar with her telepathic instructions. After the rest of the team died in the conflict against the gods, and only she, Ivan, and Joe were left, Ivan relayed the history of the Earth to her and left it up to her and Joe to decide whether they'd continue to fight or if they would sacrifice themselves and the Earth. Françoise and Joe chose to sacrifice themselves, and remained on the corrupted Earth, letting themselves pass away on their own terms rather than be killed in a fight. With her last words, Françoise stated that if they were reborn, her wish was to be Joe's bride. After transcending to the reborn "World of Light", Françoise reverted to her original human state and was able to pursue her relationship with Joe in peace. Notes * While Ishinomori's development notes stated that she would develop precognition and have it fully awakened by 001, this detail was not fully carried over into Joe Onodera's published versions and was interpreted much differently. * Françoise losing her eyes and arm was a development that was not in the original notes, and is exclusive to the light novel and manga by Onodera, to much controversy. While described as blindfolded after she forcibly ripped out her robot eyes in the light novel (and initially illustrated as such in the manga), Sugar Sato's art depicts her with her eyes simply closed for the remainder of the story. * Françoise's exact relationship with Alain differs somewhat between Onodera's telling in the 2006 light novel and the modified script used for the manga chapter. In the light novel, she winds up sleeping with Alain, creating an element of her heart momentarily straying from Joe, while the manga has her feelings seem to remain restrained. The mysterious alien woman is also confirmed to be Alain's mother in the light novel, and she is said to resemble Françoise, implying that Alain was attracted to Françoise due to her resemblance to his mother. * While no outright ages are given for the characters in the GOD'S WAR manga or in most of Ishinomori's development notes, this incarnation of Françoise is implied to be in her late twenties, at least in chronological age, as the light novel specifies that Alain is three years younger than her and working on a doctorate degree (which would place him in mid-twenties, around 24 or 25). With Françoise having been captured in 2005, she could be assumed to have been in her early twenties when she was remodeled, unless she was in her late twenties then and had her age frozen in place. Category:Cyborgs Category:Female characters Category:Conclusion: GOD'S WAR Characters